


If my math is right he'll starve to death long before we can help him

by Nyena



Category: The Martian (2015), The Martian - All Media Types, The Martian - Andy Weir
Genre: Mark Watney - Freeform, Teddy Sanders - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:20:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25353115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nyena/pseuds/Nyena
Summary: “Chicago, it’s where Watney’s parents live. I owe them a personal explanation before it breaks on the news.“
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	If my math is right he'll starve to death long before we can help him

Teddy Sanders looked out of the car window at the Chicago suburbs. One house in particular stood out. The lights seemed dimmer and a flag was hanging in the window. No Christmas lights on the roof or tree in the window. He might have been imagining it but the house had an air of sadness. The mailbox confirmed that this house was the Watney's. Taking a deep breath to steady himself he grabbed his briefcase and opened the door. This was going to the hardest conversation he had ever had. Walking up to the front door Teddy noticed what had to have been a fantastic flower bed now overgrown and dying in the cold Chicago December. It had to have been Mark’s. A pang of guilt found its way into Teddy's stomach as he looked from the garden to the front step that was covered in flowers, and full lasagna and casserole dishes along with quite a few cards bearing the Ares 3 logo. Pushing the feeling down he stepped around the casserole dishes and rang the doorbell. A few moments later a red eyed Richard Watney opened the door.  
“Mr. Sanders.” Richard Watney greeted him “Sorry about all of that” he sniffed gesturing to the front porch. “Our church and neighbors won’t stop they just keep coming”  
“People like to do what they can” Teddy responded as he bent over to pick up a lasagna to hand to Mr. Watney.  
“I suppose. You’d think they would stop after the funeral but we just started getting even more. We ran out of space in the freezer weeks ago” Richard said, taking the dish and gesturing Teddy inside. Teddy crossed the threshold and was immediately taken aback by the amount of flowers and gift baskets. They were on every surface. You could hardly see the flag the president had given them that had been placed on the mantle.  
“Mark meant a lot to a lot of people, ” Richard said as he followed Teddy's eyes around the room.  
The guilt surged again. Mark’s parents hadn't been able to refer to him in the past tense at the funeral when he had spoken to them but they were now.  
“Yes he did” he whispered as his eyes landed on a picture of a gap toothed towheaded little Mark who was no more than twelve wearing a scout uniform and holding a tiny wooden car in one hand and a trophy in the other beaming with delight. “Mark was a boy scout?” Teddy asked, still looking at the photo.  
“An Eagle Scout” Richard corrected “He’d be mad if I didn’t correct you. Sometimes I think that boy was prouder of his Eagle then he was of having the title of an Ares astronaut.“  
“Most astronauts are,” Teddy responded.  
“He wouldn’t let me help him with that pinewood derby or use a kit said it would be cheating and I quote here “I can do better then any damn kit dad”. He built that car all by himself and still came in first place.” Teddy laughed.  
“Of course he did. If you don’t mind me asking what was his Eagle project?” He was stalling and he knew he just needed to rip off the band aid. Richard looked confused but answered anyway “ A self sustaining community vegetable garden. He was always a huge nerd.” He needed to get this over with. “Is your wife home?” Teddy asked, finally looking away from the photo and looking to one of still an amazingly blond Mark graduating from the University of Chicago and hugging what must be his grandparents.  
“Not yet she will be soon. She’s a retired teacher but couldn’t handle retirement so she subs. She went down to the school to beg them to let her start subbing again. They keep saying It’s too soon but I think it would be good for her to get out of the house, get her mind on something else.”  
“That would be a good thing” Teddy agreed “What do you do Mr. Watney?” he added trying to fill the silence and kill the time until Mark’s mom came home.  
“I’m a lawyer.” Richard responded “I have a small firm downtown.” Teddy’s heart started racing. Perfect, the astronaut they left on mars had a lawyer for a dad. A dad who was clearly smart enough to put together a case for negligence. One thing at a time he reminded himself. If they saved Watney then they would worry about that. Teddy jumped as a door slammed.  
“Rich I swear I’m this close to shoving a f#$%*!@ pencil up the asshole of everyone on that school board!” Teddy saw where Watney got his mouth.  
Richard shook his head and whispered “Damn they said no.” to himself before calling out to his wife “ And I’ll defend you when they sue you for assault.” Mark’s mom walked in and hugged her husband not noticing Teddy. “Mr. Sanders is here Mary.” Mary Watney turned around and spotted him. “Oh Mr.Sanders! Your assistant called this morning but I didn’t think you were coming all the way to Chicago and so soon. How was your flight?”  
Teddy shook her hand “It was good thank you”  
Mary smiled “Mark often said that the flight from Houston to Chicago was the perfect length to get something done on. Long but not too long.”  
“It is a nice flight” Teddy agreed, looking at his briefcase sitting by the front door that contained copies of the satellite photos that proved Mark was still alive. “Do you mind if we sit down?” The couple looked at each other slightly confused and concerned.  
“Not at all,” Richard said, trying not to think too hard about the fact that it was in this room that Mark had told them he was going to mars and the same room where he had taken his first steps, the same room where he had hugged his son goodbye before he left to go back to Houston and be put in quarantine before launch. Was that really only last June? Teddy gestured to the couch as he walked to retrieve his briefcase. When he returned he sat on the piano bench that faced the couch the Watneys were sitting on. Teddy swallowed the lump that had appeared in his throat before he began.  
“There is no easy way to say this so I’ll just come out and say it. Your son is still alive but we have no way of communicating with him” The Watneys made no sign that they had heard him but he remained silent giving them time to digest the information.  
“I..I don’t understand” Richard stammered “How...”  
“We don’t know” Teddy answered “We don’t know a lot of things what we do know is he’s alive and has no radio.”  
Mary Watney's face had gone as pale as a ghost.  
“How do you know?” She asked. At least he could answer that question. “Satellite photos of the Ares 3 site show movement and alterations to the equipment that would only be possible if a human were present.”  
“Like what” Richard yelled “Prove it to me I need proof!” Teddy pulled the photos out of his briefcase and set them on the coffee table in a straight line. “For starters the solar cells are clean.” Teddy said as he pointed to the sparkling cells in the photo. Richard remained silent so Teddy kept going. “Secondly there’s the rover. Commander Lewis took the Rover out on sol 5 and plugged it back into the Hab to charge. The Rover wasn’t used again because they evacuated 13 hours later.”  
Richard Watney put his arm around his wife “So what”  
Teddy pointed to the nose of the rover on the photo “That is the nose of the rover, it's where the charging port is. The rover is pointing away from the Hab and the cord is just not long enough for Lewis to have plugged it in with the nose facing that way. The rover has been moved since sol 6.  
“Okay...” Richard whispered “That’s”  
“There is more,” Teddy interrupted. “These shapes here are rover pop tents which are emergency shelters in case a rover breaches. They have been deployed,lined up and hooked to Hab power. Mary put her hand to her face and started crying but no one said anything so Teddy pressed forward. “Unfortunately there’s still even more evidence.  
This over here is the MDV or mars descent vehicle it’s how the crew got from Hermes to Mars. It has been taken apart. Commander Lewis wouldn’t have done that without telling us. But the real proof” Teddy said as he moved his finger to the next picture “ Is the MAV. The Mars ascent vehicle. The struts are damaged and taken apart Lewis wouldn’t have allowed the crew to take off with damage like that it would be too risky. The only explanation is that your son took them apart after they left.”  
Richard stood up “So Lewis is a shitty commander that got my son killed and almost killed the rest of the crew!” Teddy stood up to match Richard “Mr. Watney Commander Lewis is an exceptional commander that is why Venkat and I selected her.”  
Richard was almost screaming now “If she was half as competent as you say she is my son would still be alive!”  
“WE NEVER FOUND MARK’S BODY!” Teddy screamed. He had no idea what had come over him he never had outbursts like that but before he could apologize he was sitting on the floor, his left eye throbbing. He looked up through his quickly swelling eye expecting to see Richard Watney getting ready to punch him again but was surprised to see him restraining his wife.  
“I think it’s time you left Mr. Sanders Mary spat before melting into her husband's arms sobbing about her baby. “I’ll walk you to your car,” Richard growled as he settled his wife on the couch and offered his hand to help Teddy off the floor. Not wanting to appear rude Teddy accepted the help and was soon on his feet. After grabbing a bag of ice for his wife's hand and Teddy’s eye and he was quickly noticing his nose the two men were walking past the garden towards Teddy’s rented car. Give it to me straight.” Richard said as they approached the car “How much food does he have?”  
Teddy fished for his keys “Not enough. Mark’s a smart resourceful man and he’ll be rationing but it still won’t be enough to last him until we can get a manned rescue mission to him.”  
“It’s been months since sol six you could have had a plan in motion to get him food by now why are you just now finding out he’s alive and why isn’t there a radio!” Teddy thought carefully before answering. There was a good chance he was going to end up with another black eye if he didn’t answer this perfectly and well, he was talking to a lawyer.  
“The satellite photos show that the communication dish broke in the storm as a matter of fact that’s probably what hit Mark it the first place. All of the backups are on the MAV and Hermes we never thought we’d have an astronaut on mars without an MAV so no need for a back up there will be backups from now on. ” Teddy tried to get a read on Richards mood before continuing but had no luck so he pressed on “ NASA is a public domain organization Mr. Watney and as a lawyer I’m sure you’re aware that means that any pictures....”  
Richard clenched his fists “ A lot of good that’ll do Mark! You have got to be f@#$ing shitting me. You were so concerned over a picture of a dead astronaut that you didn’t think it was important to confirm he was dead!”  
“In hindsight,” Teddy said, trying to defend himself.  
“In hindsight my ass! You could have had a jump start on this! Now my son is going to starve to death!”  
“Not if I can help it Mr. Watney.” Teddy interjected “Rest assured that NASA is and will do everything in its power to bring Mark home alive. I promise you,you have my word.” Teddy pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from his briefcase and scribbled something down. “This is my personal number, not my work number. Call me anytime day or night and I’ll answer and tell you anything and everything we know about Mark. If you give me your number my first call about his status will always be you no one else I promise. Not to reporters or my employees, even the President. Teddy handed him his pen. Richard scowled as he took it and ripped the piece of paper in half and wrote his number on the blank half. “It damn well better be.” He said as he handed his number and the pen back to its owner. “It will be, I promise.” Teddy got behind the wheel of his rental.  
“Mr. Watney be ready for a media shit storm it’s going to get bad. I’ll have our media director call you. It’s going to be hard but we'll get your son back I promise. Richard nodded as he put Teddy’s number in his pocket and turned to go back inside.  
“You have my word Richard” Teddy called as the man walked towards his house. “I promise!” but he was calling to a closed door. He wasn’t imagining it this time the air of sadness surrounding the Watney house had changed to despair. He had work to do.

**Author's Note:**

> I read in the first man bio of Neil Armstrong that practically every Apollo astronaut was a Boy Scout so why would Ares astronauts be any different I mean he knows how to make a sextant and a compass not something I think that NASA would teach you


End file.
